FICA challenges captains' vote

The international players' union believes it has evidence to back up claims that last month's International Cricket Council cricket committee captains' vote was unduly influenced.

The Federation of International Cricketers' Associations (FICA) has strongly questioned the legitimacy of the vote since it was made by the 10 full-member captains and has announced it had referred the matter to the ICC's ethics officer.

FICA's former chief executive Tim May lost his place on the committee, with Laxman Sivaramakrishnan, a former India spinner and currently employed as a television commentator, voted in.

Following the vote FICA implored the ICC to investigate claims that some full-member boards had interfered in the voting process, asking also to refer the matter to the ethics officer.

FICA claimed that request had been declined, prompting it to take up the matter itself, and it intends to lodge the alleged evidence of wrongdoing.

"FICA has tried all we can to get the ICC to refer this matter to the ethics officer themselves, however after more than six weeks of no action we are left with no choice but to refer the matter ourselves," FICA executive chairman Paul Marsh said.

"We have evidence of captains being pressured by their boards into changing their votes away from the incumbent player representative on the committee Tim May, in favour of Laxman Sivaramakrishnan, and we will present this to the ethics officer.

"The evidence is strong and we expect it to be acted upon. It is extremely concerning and disappointing that the governing body of our sport has refused to follow its own processes for dealing with allegations of unethical behaviour."

FICA's announcement comes during the ICC's annual conference, which is currently being held in London.

While the ICC refused to comment on the FICA statement when contacted by Press Association Sport, it is understood the matter is likely to be discussed before the annual conference ends on Saturday.